Started with a teenager's journey through high school, morphed into a young adult's experiences in college. Now college is over (for the most part) and we've turned to other adventures. Join us in the excitement.

Friday, February 10, 2012

There were two of them tonight. Two. And it wasn't even busy. So they screwed up my conversion. And on of them called me a bitch. Signs of shoplifting:

Well, I won't tell you all of them, for those of you looking to get ideas. But I will tell you what got my attention tonight. The first girls had large, open bags.

They also looked like they "shopped" at higher end stores, but they were looking in clearance for a gift.

When someone takes a certain number of clothes into the fitting room, then comes out with less than what they went in with.

Anyway, the first two exhibited the first two signs as well as others, the last one exhibited the third sign. While I followed the first two around, they noticed that I was watching them, then went to the counter with an item, to do a price check, called me a bitch, and left without buying.
The second lady that came in was visibly upset, but she had some bags on her as well. She took six items into the fitting room, and came out with five, and gave me four. I checked her room for the last item, a pair of black sweatpants that I had set in there when I started the room for her. I asked her about them in a lower voice, like, "Hey, I noticed you didn't leave those pants in the room. Did they work out for you?" She told me she had already put them back, and I told her that I didn't see her come out of the fitting room, but I must have missed it. She still told me she didn't have them, so I stopped asking, and continued following her. When the last customer had left, she pulled them out of her bag, along with the hanger, apologized several times, and gave them back. I told her that it was okay, that it "takes a lot to give things back." "I'll never come back," she said. She quickly exited the store without another word. She continued to look back to see if I was still watching her, and she looked remorseful, so I hope what I said and my trust in her to do the right thing had an effect on her.
The one thing that I wonder when shoplifters come in is do they steal because they need the clothing, or because they need something to pay the bills, or to trade for drugs? It's the same question that we asked at the service project that I went to to serve the homeless.The question was do panhandlers really need the money? So what if they need the drugs? That is what they need at the moment. Maybe they need to clothe their children. Maybe they need new, clean clothes for a job interview. Maybe they need a coat to stay warm.
Then I think about it some more. And there are agencies that help with those things. A person shouldn't have to resort to crime to make their lives work. And resorting to crime, often makes their lives worse, makes it harder to get a job.
Anyway... just my musings. Maybe that's something I can do with my life.

0
comments:

About Me

I have blonde hair and blue eyes, I'm about 5' 2" and I have quite a high IQ (except for the lack of common sense at certain times). As you can probably see from my blog, my life consists of high highs and low lows. There is no happy medium for my moods. I just graduated from a small, private, liberal arts college and I might be going back for law school. I want to someday be a prosecuter, a mediator, a family law attorney, or a counselor. Sometimes I feel crazy, bipolar, and that is where the inspiration for this blog comes. I enjoy having the sand between my toes and snowflakes in my hair (not at the same time, of course!). Oh yeah, I almost forgot... I'm also looking for my mind and life's purpose; I seemed to have lost mine.